I have now added the full
transcript of this conversation below, because it helps to show how
the treatment I have received from AT&T violates the tariff behind
which they hide. Everyone knows there are problems, but they refuse to
put that in writing. Mr. Miller admits the problems here and also that
it is unlikely anything will be done about them in fact he intimates
that I will have to move if I want to get the level of service for which
I am paying.

A summary of the conversation follows:

I tell Miller that my problem is not as much with the overbilling, as
with the fact that "I keep losing service because the wires in the
street are old." I point out that it has been raining and that the
repair people have said the same thing, that the wires in the street are
really old. Miller said, "Right, because they told me part of your
neighborhood was down also."

I tell him that was actually last week, and the repair person had told
me if the lines are bad and there is water on the wires it can cause a
busy signal, which is what she thought probably happened on December 30
(1997). I tell him I can't run a business when the phones keep going dead,
and I am really hoping AT&T can do something about it.

Miller says there is not much he can do, but he will tell his bosses
(Gail Burns and Mike Bunse). He said he tried to get someone to call me
about my current problem fixed (no local service on my residential line),
but that he had trouble getting ahold of anyone himself and finally just
left a message on audix about it. No one had called me and he apologized,
but said he was powerless.

I ask him again about the six hour
delay there had been in getting my number to be forwarded while the
service was out, because one repair people who had been out to my place
had said Miller could have gotten it done quickly, and another said no,
it takes a while because AT&T has to talk to Pac Bell. MIller says
it was a delay between AT&T and Pac Bell, that Pac Bell probably could
have done it in 20 minutes. But later in the conversation he says he was
"amazed" that it had even been done in five [sic] hours. (Note:
for a comparison, see 2-18-98.
Just a week later, when there was another problem, an AT&T operator
was able to get my number forwarded while I waited  that fast!)

I tell Miller that right at that moment my phone line is working again,
and explain that the other night when the dial tone was gone I had measured
the voltage on all my lines at the demarcation point. The one that was
bad was only getting 8 to 13 volts, compared to 43 to 45 on the other
phones. Now it was working again and no one could explain why.

Miller tells me he had called on my [repair] ticket and he had been told
it was because of the rain.

I say again, how am I supposed to run a business when the phones go out
because it rains? It's not even as if I live in an area that has flooding.
I don't. We talked about the billing side of the problems, and then
I said again that I had really been hoping when I switched to AT&T
that something would happen to make the lines in the street better. I
ask MIler if my only choice to get better lines would be to move to a
different neighborhood.

Miller tells me yes, "or to a commercial area, "because "if
it were zoned for commercial you'd probably have better lines."
When I ask why, he tells me that commercial areas get updated first.

I say, "So I'm charged commercial rates, but I get residential
service?"

Miller says, "Hate to say that," but he really doesn't know
any other way to explain it and wishes he could tell me something more.